


I am to You as Gold is to Blue

by chickadi (fifum), Lindsword



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Culture, Fluff and Angst, Galra Keith (Voltron), M/M, klance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-14
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-22 07:56:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8278523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fifum/pseuds/chickadi, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lindsword/pseuds/Lindsword
Summary: Keith fought aliens, Lance fought aliens, and then Keith became an alien.





	1. Avoidance, Thy Name is Keith

**Author's Note:**

> alternatively titled "Emo Furry and his Blue Bi BF"  
> featuring chickadi as the emo furry and lindsword as the blue bi bf  
> despite what you may think, this story is completely serious (for the most part).  
> it should be noted that this is an edited rp.  
> hope you enjoy!

Keith fought aliens. That wasn't a thing normal people did, but here he was, fighting aliens. Something he'd trained for for hours every day. So it was genuinely surprising when the Galra solider caught him off guard with a blast from some new alien weapon.  
He hit the ground like a ton of bricks. This...hadn't happened before. He had been running back to his lion with the rest of the Paladins, bringing up the rear to hopefully escape before the ship went down. It was supposed to be simple. But when he was hit with that blast, he crumbled. His vision got blurry, and he struggled to even lift his head. He heard buzzing. It was like every inch of his body was buzzing. He couldn't move. He didn't know if he wanted to.

From day one, even back at the Garrison, Lance fought tooth and nail to keep up with Keith Kogane, top pilot. He'd had it in his head that he was neck and neck with this guy when in all reality, he was just a cargo pilot. So, to say the very least, even with the binding bond of Voltron, it was taking a while, slowly but surely, for the paladin of ice and water to warm up to his more fiery companion. 

Lance had already had a close call on his life since he had left earth. Apparently Keith had cradled him in his arms? It was all a blur from the explosion until time he had emerged from the healing pod after what seemed like ages. But Keith wasn't the type to get injured. Not the type to be caught off guard and shot in the rear like had happened so many times to Lance. They were nearly back to their lions when they collectively realized that they were missing someone. A blur of red on the already bloody battlefield caught his attention. A mullet he would recognize anywhere, even when it was only peeking out from under a beaten and battered helmet. 

And then he was next to Keith, his long legs carrying him faster than he thought they could. "Keith! Keith, buddy, are you alright?" If anything, from the time that it had taken the squad to notice he wasn't running with them anymore, Keith had been laying there for a while, nearly motionless, which struck fear into the Blue Paladin. "Come on, you've got to be okay," His voice was urgent and dripping with panic as the rest of the team rejoined them, giving Lance cover fire while he attempted to check in on Keith.

Keith wasn't doing so good. He felt woozy, the strong thumps of Galra soldiers' feet doing nothing to rouse him from his incapacitated state.  
Everything was blurry, and all too much, the sounds, the smells, the sights- it was all so much and all at once. What was happening to him?  
It dawned on him that none of the Paladins had come back for him. Was he dying?  
Panic rose in Keith's chest but he simply couldn't move.  
He saw a flash of blue in the slurry of sight his eyes were feeding him, and felt so much relief he passed out.

Lance caught a glimpse of Keith's dark eyes before they lazily fluttered closed. _No. He's not dead, he's not dead, please let him not be dead._ Lance had to trust that Keith was still breathing, there was no time to check. Their armor was not a good judge of the rise and fall of the chest because it needed to be sturdy and he couldn't try to feel if he could detect faint breathing because their helmets had to be sealed on this planet due to the inhospitable atmosphere. 

"I've got him, we've got to go!" he yelled, picking up Keith and wrestling him over his shoulder, his limp body heavy. It was pure adrenaline at this point that allowed such lean muscles to carry so much weight and still managing to move quickly to escape. Lance would definitely feel it in the morning, but right now he wanted to make sure that Keith could make it until the morning. They loaded back into their lions, Lance transporting Keith in Blue. Even though Red was fully capable of returning her paladin back to the castle, Lance couldn't bear the thought of leaving him alone, even in the responsible hands of his own lion. Now he found himself waiting and watching outside the healing pod. He never thought he'd be in this situation, so concerned about his so-called rival. Shiro had managed to convince him to change out of his uniform and take a shower and Hunk had brought him some food, but Lance was still insistent on sticking around, a little while longer, just a few more minutes, half an hour more until I finally go, until everyone else was back in their quarters and Lance had fallen asleep, his head leaning against the cold, sterile healing pod.

Keith had been in a healing pod before. It came with the whole "fighting aliens" thing now. Along with the six people he cared about more than anybody in the world, or the entire universe for that matter! He twitched idly in the pod, a dull numbness washing over the tingling, buzzing feeling that had crept into his bones.  
He hadn't expected to stumble so badly when he exited the pod the next morning. He also didn't expect to stumble right into Lance's arms.  
There were a few things off about this situation. Starting with this hazy gloss over his eyes. Barely perceivable, unless you made a point to notice it. His mullet was fluffier, though that might just have been from sleeping in a healing pod. Unfortunately for Keith, Lance was more than close enough to see both of these things. Keith quickly pushed back and out of Lance's arms, having a little trouble steadying himself but eventually finding refuge leaning against the edge of the healing pod.

Lance was jolted from his sleep with a sudden weight collapsing upon him. The mere shock caused his body to brace itself and managed to catch whatever or whoever just fell on him. His muscles and joints ached as his eyes blearily focused. Keith?...

"Keith!" Lance blurted excitedly, his voice still a little thick from sleep. He studied the individual in front of him, still clad in the signature white healing pod jumpsuit that all of them had worn something similar quite a few times, some for longer periods than others, and something... Something was different. "You're awake!-- And geez, that healing pod does wonder for your skin and hair, dude! You must have been in need of a major bath," he laughed. Of course Lance had to add a jab in there. It wouldn't be the same if he let his true concern show through. Besides, sudden niceness would have been jarring for Keith even if he hadn't just emerged from a pod.

Keith wheezed out a very dry, very fake laugh, righting himself.  
"What happened?"

"I'm-- I'm not quite sure exactly. We were all headed back to our lions and when we got there, we realized that you weren't with us and-- I think we all panicked. You were barely conscious when we got back to you."

"Barely conscious?" Keith's eyes widened, but he was quick to cover up his surprise. "Well, it was just a stupid slip up. At least everybody got me back."  
Keith doesn't slip up. He hadn't slipped up a day in his life.  
That dull achey thrum was back, making him oversensitive and causing him to brush past Lance with a simple wave. Because, after all, it was nothing, right? Just a little wound. Nothing a healing pod couldn't fix.  
He headed back to his room to shower and relax before heading back out to train a few hours later.

Lance coughed into his hand.  
"Uh, yeah, we did."

Life began to go on as normal for the paladins, Lance had soon informed everyone that Keith was still kicking and was in fact, back to his normal, grumpy self less than five minutes out of the pod. How lovely.  
A few hours later, Lance found himself strolling the corridors of the castle, quite bored of messing around with the anti-gravity room with Hunk. He passed the training deck and managed to catch the blur of movement coming from within. Unbelievable. While Lance had been convinced a long time ago that Keith was a deficient human being compared to himself, this positively proved that he was chill-deficient. Seriously, who pops out of a healing pod and takes a shower, only to get sweaty again? And besides, should Keith really be training this soon after such a physically straining close call? Sure the pods were highly advanced and more efficient as well as thorough than any doctor on earth could imagine being, but Lance always found his favorite post-pod pastime to be chilling out on the couch.

"End training sequence!" Lance called angrily as he entered the room. Thankfully, the castle responded to any voice in most menial situations such as this one. "Dude! You just had a life-threatening experience and your first thought is to train? Did you hit your stupid stubborn head when that Galra guy shot you or something?" Lance was now marching over to Keith. Normally he wouldn't care what Keith did or when he did it, but after the emotional stress he'd been through over him as well as the crick in his neck from sleeping against a healing pod all night didn't put him in the mood to be indifferent and just keep walking past.

Keith whipped around shockingly fast, clenching his fists. "The hell was that for, McClain? I know my limits. Stop treating me like a child."  
His scowl had an unusual amount of... bite to it.  
So what, a Galra soldier shot him? Only meant that he had time to make sure it wouldn't happen again. He'd been on edge all day, and he absolutely did not need to be dealing with Lance McClain right now.  
"Begin training sequence," he spit through clenched teeth.  
Nothing about Keith was right. Even his fighting style had taken a tumble. He was unsteady at best, and impulsive as he usually was, his instincts weren't serving him well at all.  
That glint in his eyes remained, determination ever-present, raging through his body along with that annoying-as-hell buzzing!

Lance glared as he watched Keith train for a moment, having stepped back a little. He kept his mouth shut long enough to confirm something that he thought he had seen in passing, and sure enough.  
" Keith -- urgh!" Lance yelled once again for the gladiator to halt. "Keith, this isn't even treating you like a child, your body isn't ready for full-out training yet, dumbass!"  
He grabbed him by the shoulder, which was probably a little bit dangerous, given that Keith still had his bayard drawn and seemed to be a little volatile right now, but who said the red paladin was the only impulsive one? 

"Is it not in you to just chill out for one day??" Something was different. Being this close to Keith, Lance could see. His eyes seemed furious, the glint of bloodthirstiness and frustration built up within them. His movements were jerky and uncoordinated, quite unlike the Keith that Lance had been chasing for years.

"I'm fine , Lance."  
Keith stowed his bayard, skin bubbling with anger.  
"What do you want ."  
Keith scratched idly behind his head, glaring up at Lance.  
"I'm just trying to be ready so that a _freakish_ Galra footsoldier can't sneak up on me again."

Lance found himself glaring again, squinting to try to find the logic here.  
"Hate to be the voice of reason, always, that's Hunk's job after all; But if you drive yourself into the ground on the training deck do you think you're going to be any help against even those stupid brainless robot soldiers?? And do you think we could form Voltron without you? Believe me if we could, we would, mullet ,"

What happened to all that concern huh? Oh that's right. He's actually conscious now and being as difficult as ever. How endearing.

"Mullet. That's the best you could come up with."  
Keith seemed to be cooling down and settling back into familiar banter with Lance.  
"That's all you ever insult. That's an awful lot of attention to pay my mullet."  
Right. Not like Lance would ever pay attention to him. Keith didn't know why he cared so much. It's just Lance  
Let Lance hyperfixate on his mullet. He'd much rather focus on training.

Keith tied up his hair, making a small ponytail in the back and just giving up on training. With Lance there, nothing would ever get done. Again, he brushed past Lance, not even giving him a chance to contest the mullet comment.

As he strolled back to his room, he kept an even pace. How long had they been doing this? Bantering like, well. An old married couple. When had he started enjoying it? Looking forward to it? Well. Maybe he wasn't enjoying it quite as much as he thought. Then again, this tingly sensation was not helping by any means. He felt hyper-alert. Paranoid.

Lance exhaled loudly as Keith left, for once deeming it unworthy to try to shout after him. He was tired and it wasn't even lunchtime yet-- what hour that was, no one seemed to know. He had been worried and had slept sitting up for pete's sake and this was the thanks he got? 

However, it was always eventful with Keith around. They could always find something to argue about. While Lance and Hunk had their inside jokes, everyone could always count on Lance and Keith, Keith and Lance, always bickering, sometimes in good fun, other times, not so much. 

Lunchtime came and once again, in a collaboration between Hunk and Coran, it all tasted amazing. Lance was still acting a little pouty because he was sleepy and cranky at this point, he honestly needed a nap.  
"So," Shiro began, breaking the silence. "Are you feeling better, Keith?"  
"Oh, he's doing just fine! Perfect actually! Isn't that right, Keith?" Lance's voice was saturated with sarcasm, absolutely sopping with it.

"Yes," Keith bit back, "I'm doing great . I'd be doing better if I had actually had decent training time." Keith glared at Lance from across the table and went back to eating.  
The food...was off, somehow. Space goop definitely tasted worse, but this? This was all too many tastes and textures and it made Keith a little sick to his stomach. He cleared away what he could manage and stood up.  
"I'm going to my room," he blurted out abruptly, and hightailed it out of the dining area before anyone could think twice about it.  
He shut his door, hard , and locked it, immediately shucking off his jacket and shirt. The itch going down his spine could not have been good, and it had bugged him all morning. He took a cautious look in the mirror.  
He had to hold back his voice when he saw his own peeling skin giving way to an unmistakeable violet. Keith stood back from the mirror, in absolute shock and disbelief. It took him a minute to collect his thoughts and his composure after hastily getting his t-shirt back on.  
It's coverable. It's just some weird rash, it must be. It's only gotten halfway down my back, it's fine, it's fine. I'll use one of the healing pods for it tonight. It's just a rash.  
His thoughts were frantic and boarding on a panic attack, because no, it couldn't be.  
He pushed his thoughts aside, assuring himself.  
_No, it must be a rash. Maybe I wasn't in the healing pod long enough. It's fine, it's fine, it's fine..._  
He tried to distract himself from thinking about it, adjusting his shirt and hair to cover what he could. He couldn't be suspicious. This was nothing to worry the team over. Just a rash.

Lance found himself trudging down the corridors of the castle to the hallway where their sleeping quarters were all located at a relatively small distance from each other. His hands were shoved in his pockets, and he was grumbling as he went along due to the fact that his dessert had been threatened if he didn't attempt to offer an apology to Keith after all had assumed that it was Lance's off handed comments that had pushed Keith away with so little of his food eaten. 

He banged on the door of Keith's room; all of their quarters were so conveniently color-coded, so even if Lance tried to forget where Keith was to escape the punishment of apology, his lies would be sorely thwarted. "Hey," he called, an annoyed edge to his voice, (because after all he still needed that nap due to his grumpy exhaustion), "Shiro made me come apologize to you or something or else I wouldn't get the dessert that Hunk made, so-- sorry I guess," 

Lance mumbled the last bit, hating having to admit defeat to his rival. He knew Shiro would follow up and ask Keith if Lance had apologized at all instead of just taking a stroll around the castle as a ruse, but honestly, he wasn't sure if he trusted Keith enough to not lie about it just to make Lance suffer further.  
...Lance couldn't admit that he wouldn't do the same to Keith, but that was neither here nor there, of course.

The irritating tone of Lance's voice cut through his room's door. It only put him on edge and made him that much more eager to get to a healing pod that night.

He padded softly down the hallway once he was sure the rest of the Paladins were asleep. He suited up and stepped into a healing pod, stomach churning with anxiety.  
Only moments later did the pod spit him out, declaring his clean bill of health. He spit and snarled out insults to the machine, but after two more failed attempts he figured he'd made enough noise for one night and trekked back to his room, paranoid someone would sneak up on him.

The next morning, the paladins all gathered for breakfast as they normally did. They all arrived at different times, Shiro and Keith usually being the earliest, Lance and sometimes Hunk usually being the latest. Sometimes Pidge didn't show up, it just depended. But for once, Lance was somehow earlier than Keith. What is this nonsense?? Everyone was in silent, sleepy shock.

After a while, Keith did manage to show up, and normally Lance would have taken this chance to gloat about it, but even though they had all settled into their own respective sleeping schedules, Allura did make sure that all the paladins were up in time for their morning training (which was very early in Lance's eyes), even if they didn't get breakfast, else they would get stuck on cleaning duty for a space week, so the lazier paladins had had to shape up quickly. But Keith? Keith hadn't had to do castle maintenance, not for this purpose at least, Lance had noticed. They had both been given disciplinary chores for being mutually rowdy and disruptive, which was always a fun activity when they were both still livid at each other 90% of the time.

Keith was acting strangely, as if his late arrival hadn't been odd enough for him. Lance blinked slowly, still dozing over his breakfast, his eyes blearily detecting something interesting. Very interesting.  
"OOOOOOH," Lance suddenly shouted, as if his sleepy discovery had jolted him awake. "Keith has a hickey I sooo see it right there!!" He stood up, nearly knocking his chair over and pointed, snickering at the bruised-looking area peeking from the collar of Keith's shirt and jacket. "Who was it, there are only seven of us here, it wasn't me and I'm going to count out Coran at the very least on this one, so six,"

Keith really had just wanted some food. He just wanted to have a decent breakfast as a gift to himself for having a shitty night's sleep. But before he could even sit down, there it was. That irritating voice, the one that could cut through solid metal doors. 

It took Keith a second to register what idiocy was actually spilling from Lance's face, but once he did, he jolted back, embarrassed and furious. He could feel the itchy rash spreading farther down his back, and it had already reached his thighs when he woke up that morning. 

"It's not a hickey-!" he contested, poorly-timed voice crack not helping his case in the least.  
He flipped up his collar, trying to keep a safe distance between him and Lance's prying hands.

"What else could it be, Keith? Why else would you have a bruise on your neck of all places, huh?"

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe I got beat up after yesterday's slip up? Or are you that dense."  
His mind was racing. He had to deflect this attention off of him, and fast .  
"Sounds like someone's jealous. "  
Yeah. That ought to do it.

"The healing pods heal bruises too, trust me, I'd kno--"

He didn't just.  
HE DID.

" What. What did you just say?" Lance bristled up at the mere implication that he couldn't get any action but Keith could. "I'm sure as hell not jealous of you . And b-besides, I bet Hunk would make out with me right now if I asked him to!" Lance's defenses were raised, his voice now up a few octaves and loud, very, very loud whilst defending his honor.

"Dude, take me out to dinner first," Hunk teased from the seat adjacent to him.  
"URGH, Whatever! Kogane I could best you any day in the romance department!"

"Sure you could," he says doubtfully, while rolling his eyes. "Tell me, Lance, about all those 'space babes' you've gotten. Like that one on last week's mission? Or wait, she rejected you. Hm...maybe the week before that? No, no...she rejected you too. Let me think...nope! None. You've gotten exactly, mathematically zero ."  
He was so relieved. Lance was easily distracted, especially when it came to romance.  
"What's this? A rare speechless moment from Lance McClain? I'll cherish it," Keith said dryly, plucking a muffin and a banana from the breakfast food at the table. "Don't be late for training."  
He turns on his heel and heads back to his room, hoping Lance won't follow.

Ok, did he have any space turtlenecks? Or just like, normal earth turtlenecks? Because this rash was getting worse and he really didn't want Lance to point it out ever again.  
Also...was it just his mirror or were his ears pointier..?

Lance's mouth hung open as he watched Keith exit the dining hall, still standing tense and upright, his clenched fists facedown on the table. A few snickers could be heard from his comrades and a small chuckle from even Shiro!  
"Shut up!" he managed, his voice stuttery and his face hot and embarrassed.  
"Dude, you've met your match," Hunk laughed good heartedly.  
"Wh-what?? He is no match of mine, w-what would even make you think that?? I don't like him or anything, what a dumbass!"  
"Lance. I meant that he knows which of your buttons to push."  
"...Oh." Lance shut up and sat back down. Again, another rare moment of silence from Lance McClain. But it was only just a moment.

"Urgh! He's so--" His words seemed to fail him, there was nothing in the intergalactic dictionary that could manage to describe the pure frustration he felt towards Keith right now.  
"Dreamy?" "Stupidly hot?" "Something in Spanish that roughly translated to 'beautiful', according to my calculations?" This was just a cruel, cruel word volley between Pidge and Hunk that caused Lance to feel the heat of humiliation spread throughout his body.

"H-HOW--"  
"Hunk isn't the only one with a bad habit of reading diaries, you know," Pidge grinned devilishly at Lance.  
"Yeah, it's honestly been our favorite pastime lately-- The Hopeless Chronicles of Lance and Keith, we've dubbed it," Hunk added with emphasis on their clever title.  
Lance opened his mouth to respond but then just pushed his chair in violently before storming out. What was it, kick Lance while he was down day? "I'm going to go talk to Blue because SHE DOESN'T BETRAY ME LIKE THIS!" He yelled as he exited, the doors sliding shut behind him. 

And of course. Blue could read his mind. Blue couldn't betray him by airing out his dirty laundry like his so-called friends had, she didn't waste the chance of lightly teasing him about his suppressed, angry crush.

Keith trudged to the training simulator a little while later with an...oddly heavy amount of clothing on. A turtleneck, his signature jacket, skinny jeans, and boots, all topped off with a beanie. They may have been in space, but it was not that cold.  
He tried to train. He really, truly did. But this itching was spreading, he could feel it just crawling under his skin, and he was just as shitty as yesterday.  
Keith relented, groaning in frustration and heading back to his room to check the spread, knocking past Lance on his way back, not bothering to apologize for bumping into him.

Blue dropped it after a while and for a long time, he just flew her around, idle conversation between them as they cruised the Arusian skies, but just like her impatient paladin, Blue broke down and started pestering him about it again.  
"Alright, time to head in for a while," Lance had said aloud, a little more than annoyed. Blue was the only one here that he couldn't keep a single thing from, and while that might have allowed them to become closer, it was a little grating at times when he didn't want to talk about something. 

So, once again, he cruised the hallways, trying to think of something to do now that the two people and one lion that he would normally go to in a time like this wouldn't stop talking about Keith and that was driving him absolutely insane. He couldn't even go to his diary in confidence now! He sighed, still wearing the tight pilot's undersuit, thinking about visiting the training deck for target practice, but besides, their uniform showed off his nice ass, Lance liked to think.  
Then, speak of the devil and he shall appear-- and rudely at that. 

"Hey! Watch where you're going, Kogane!" Lance threw up his arms in volatile outrage. Today just didn't seem to be his day. "And what are you dressing up for? The cold? Come on, my lion shoots ice and I'm still warm-- or are you just trying to cover up that stupid hickey?"

He really didn't have time to deal with this, but he paused and uttered a simple, "Fuck you."  
The glare in his eyes seemed to have a more prominent yellow tint.

Keith's glare chilled Lance. He could use more clothes to warm him up from that cold look.  
Lance squinted at Keith. Did his eyes look... yellow? He'd noted previously that they were a dark, dark shade of blue, strangely enough, but yellow was definitely a stretch.  
"Are you-- fuck you too but-- are you, you know, feeling alright? Your eyes, you look-- sick, maybe,"

He gets that same panicked look on his face. "I'm fine. Healing pod woulda fixed it if it was a problem."  
He was quick to walk back to his room, desperately hoping Lance wouldn't pry.  
Were his eyes really yellow? _Fuck._

Even though it was totally against the standoffish, assholish demeanor that he had aimed for when approaching any of his assailants from breakfast, Lance followed Keith. Having longer legs did have their perks, one being the ability to catch up quickly.  
"Maybe the healing pods only heal injuries-- we don't even know if Alteans get sick at all, but I mean" Lance paused and laughed. "Even a healing pod might not be able to fix idiot-itis."

"Ha. Ha." He glared at Lance. "Better watch out or you'll catch whatever I've got." Keith turned and coughed obnoxiously loud, unintentionally showing off canines.  
Very pointy ones.  
His entire body was itching. Keith prayed to whatever god that was willing to help him that the itch wouldn't reach his face.

Lance blinked, rubbing his eyes a little to make sure of what he was seeing. Yellowish eyes, purple creeping out from under Keith's multitude of clothing articles and sharp teeth? This was scarily familiar.  
"Keith- I--" His normal quick-thinking articulation was failing him. "Keith I don't think that close call of yours was just a little slip-up-- I think-- Something... Something is wrong, we need to tell someone,"  
Fear was evident in his eyes, fear for Keith, fear that something irreversible and fatal was plaguing him.

"Don't be ridiculous. I can handle it," he grit out from between clenched teeth. “It's just a dumb cold."  
He couldn't let Lance see him. Not like this. What if Lance attacked him? Thought he betrayed the team, that he was some brainless monster-?  
"I'll just keep myself quarantined until I feel better. No big deal."  
He slipped into his room quickly, locking the door and breathing a sigh of relief.

"Keith--!" Lance cursed under his breath as the door ever so rudely slammed in his face. He heard the lock click shortly thereafter. Stubborn was all this guy was, nothing else.  
"Keith," he repeated with a bit of a sigh. "If you're not better by the morning, I'm telling someone." He frowned to himself. "I'm no snitch, but this could be serious." Did his voice seriously just shake? Did he seriously just let Keith Kogane himself know that he had an inkling of concern for him? Honestly, space was doing things to Lance that he wasn't sure he was a big fan of.

Keith heard the worry in Lance's voice. It was practically tangible, floating into the room and choking him. _By the morning. By the morning._  
Guess he'd have to be out by morning, then.  
He stripped off all of the excess clothes, taking a better look at himself in the mirror.  
That same lilac was encroaching on the edges of his face, the only yet untouched part of him. His ears were getting bigger and fluffier by the minute, it seemed, and his eyes had almost completely glossed over with an all-too-bright yellow.  
He was staring straight into the face of the enemy.  
The face of a destructive, manipulative, evil people.  
Everything that Voltron was created to stop stared back at him in that moment.  
And Keith broke down, weeping softly into his clawed hands as the itch overtook his face.  
He stayed like that late into the night, not coming out for lunch and refusing dinner. The itch faded, but he didn't feel any better.

Lance managed to cover for Keith for the rest of the day, taking the prodding questions as well as Allura's anger at them not being able to form Voltron during team practice without Keith and lying to everyone. For now.  
He slept very poorly, clearly worried. Not only had his crush on Keith been outed to everyone except Keith, (he could still give thanks for that small fact), but also something might be wrong with Keith. Terribly wrong. The next morning he waited, listening for four other doors to open and close, but only three did. He laid in bed for a while longer, listening for the fourth, hoping that Hunk had slept in and that was why he wasn't hearing it, but the sinking feeling of Keith being the one who had not emerged settled in on him, weighing on him like a ton of bricks as he finally pushed himself out of bed.  
Quietly, he walked down the hall, his limbs heavy from dread, but also from fatigue. Lance knocked softly on the red and white door that clearly belonged to Keith. "Hey," he whispered. "Are you still in there?"

The door opened, but no one was inside but chaos itself. All the bed sheets had been tossed aside, dressers rummaged through, and a sheet had been thrown over the mirror. Keith had done this in a frenzy last night, before running to Red, in hopes he could escape to some far corner of the universe before his friends tried to kill him. But when he needed Red most, she failed him. She wouldn't open up for him, despite an hour's worth of struggling. In red hot fury, he burst from the castle and ran into the Arusian wilderness beyond it. Here, maybe, he could find some peace.  
He wasn't fit to be part of Voltron anymore.  
Red had told him that without even uttering a word.


	2. A Voice That Carries

He charged blindly into the untamed plant life until the sun rose. Then, choosing a place to roost, he let his legs rest, a burning sensation shooting up them as tears stung his eyes.

_Galra. I'm Galra. I'm the lowlife scum they've all been working to erase from the universe. How could I even let them see me like this? They'd attack me- think I was a traitor- or worse. What caused this? What did I do to deserve this? Red won't even acknowledge me as her Paladin anymore. Guess it serves me right. That's what you get for being sloppy and getting shot in the back. I hope Red likes Allura. I bet they'd make a great team…_

Panic struck Lance straight in the chest. "No, no no, no," he murmured over and over, taking off towards the training deck, checking there first since it was on the way to the dining hall. He nearly tripped and fell due to the fact that his limbs were still groggy from the lack of movement, even though sleep had never really come to him fully throughout the night.  
He almost raced past the dining hall, but managed to stop himself by hanging onto the frame of the door. He scanned the room, beyond the alarmed faces of his friends. No Keith. 

"Haha, hey guys, m-mornin'! I-- I'm taking Blue out for a while, okay? I'll be back in a tick, you w-won't even know I'm gone!" Lance didn't wait for an answer, and he took off again, towards the barracks. He bypassed the uniform storage room and made a beeline for his lion, even noticing that Red was still there, he was barely able to contain the trembling consuming his whole body as he gripped Blue's controls. It's not like she needed him to tell her via the controls what to do, she didn't even need verbal instructions. They were finding Keith. She knew with more certainty that Keith was no longer there. After all, she had witnessed the volatile and impulsive Red lion reject her paladin mere hours prior.  
"B-Blue?" Lance felt as if he needed to speak this time, because his head felt like a jumbled mess and he worried that not even his lion would be able to sort through it. "Can you sync up with Red's quintessence or something to-- to find Keith? Would that even work?"

Blue didn't even need to answer her paladin. She flew high into the sky, leaving the Castle of Lions and gliding over the Arusian treetops. Keith could not have gone far, yet it was a little harder to pick up on his presence due to his weakening bond with Red. Blue managed to bring Lance within a general area where she could pick up faint traces of Keith's life force, like footprints in the dirt, washed over with rain and turned into hardly decipherable mud. 

Lance stumbled out of Blue, still shaky and worried. He tried to keep his cool and pull his bayard because who knows what's out he--  
Of course. Of course he would forget his bayard. Now here he was, scared and alone (save for Blue), out in the middle of nowhere with nothing more than a wish of good luck from Blue on finding Keith because she couldn't pinpoint him exactly herself, and the best part? He was unarmed.  
He wandered about, frantically at first, calling out Keith's name as he went, eventually calming down a bit and scouring the area a little better, his mind less clouded from the panic.

That voice. Again. It cut through metal doors, and it cut through plant life straight to Keith's enormous fluffy ears. He felt a surge of relief, hope- but it was squashed down quickly by the inevitability of rejection. He hopped down from the tree he was perched in, jacket snagging on a branch, but he had no time to retrieve it. He simply ran, not giving a shit if he was cracking sticks or shuffling leaves. He was not letting Lance find him.  
Wait. Who said it was Lance?  
Why did he suddenly come to mind?  
Lance, it must've been, with that voice. The voice that always argued, but it was a voice that cared. It was a voice he cared about. But he had to push past that. Lance would only look at Keith in horror and disgust, so it was better if he never got a chance to look at him at all.

He called and he called, for a long time, to no avail. But then there was something. His hearing wasn't the best, but he heard a struggle, the rustling of foliage and the snapping of twigs. It could have just been a frightened animal, but it could have been Keith.  
Lance's legs were tired from all the running he had been doing, but this didn't keep him from breaking out into a full sprint again, yelling Keith's name as he passed by a flash of red that confirmed his suspicions. Keith's jacket. He had no doubt found his target. He continued on, nearly twisting his ankle on pieces of uprooted plant life, but managed to slowly but surely close in on a human form, though worryingly purple, trying to escape him. Was this really Keith? Sure, the jacket was there but Lance couldn't see much from behind, his vision blurred by their mutual velocity, but then he saw it.  
A mullet he would recognize anywhere. Tears pricked his eyes, and he pushed himself faster, once again thankful for his long limbs and then it happened. He had dodged so many roots and just as Lance had gotten nearly to Keith, he tripped and fell. Right on top of Keith. 

He grunted in pain and lifted himself off the ground a little, his face still too close to the dirt and insects in said dirt for comfort. Then it hit him. Keith!  
Lance sat up quickly, rolling off of Keith. "Dude, I'm so sorry, are you okay?" he blurted before he could even unfold his arms properly to sit up. What he saw was a sight to behold indeed. He even questioned if this really was Keith once again, reassured by the two main pieces of evidence--the jacket and the mullet. Also the fact that this Keith was wearing the same thing that Keith had been wearing yesterday, except a little dirtier and a bit more worn. 

The initial shock of this new Keith wore off fairly quickly, tears welling up in his eyes. The Blue Paladin was the guardian of water and boy, did it show. Lance didn't cry often, or at least not in front of anyone, but when he did, the waterworks just let loose and didn't stop until they ran dry.  
"I-- I didn't think I was gonna find you, Keith," he hiccuped, trying to swipe at his eyes in attempts to hide his tears. "Blue j-just dropped me off here and I had no clue where I was going and I forgot my bayard at the castle so I was scared something might try to eat me and I was also scared that I--"  
Lance was letting loose with way too much information right now. Since when did crying also mean word vomit?... Well, forever actually. "I was scared that I wouldn't find you, or that I wouldn't find you--... Alive."

Lance- _Lance found him._  
Lance... _Lance was on top of him._  
"Why did you come after me." His tone betrayed his actual feelings, making him seem callous and cold rather than relieved and grateful. He was too scared to move away, heart hammering in his chest.  
_"Why,_ McClain. "

Lance's heart dropped at Keith's response. Did Keith not want to be found? He hadn't really taken that into consideration. All he knew was that he wanted Keith back, so Keith needed to be back.  
Tears still dripping down his cheeks, though slowing a little bit now, he finally opened his mouth to speak after a moment of serious contemplation.

"Because," he began shakily. "I knew something was wrong, and I didn't know if you were going to be okay. I-... On my way here, Blue told me about-- what happened with Red." He paused, knowing that rejection from his own lion must have been a fresh and burning wound. "And I thought, 'What would I do if I didn't have this asshole to argue with everyday?'"  
Lance was really wiping off the true emotion here. He'd cried with Blue too, afraid that Keith wouldn't be there anymore.  
"And that I disagree with Red. You belong with us even if your lion is being pissy. That shows even more that you're her paladin, I think." Lance managed a laugh, a really thick, really snotty laugh.

"Lance- you- you are seeing clearly, right? I'm- I'm one of them. Another brainless, amoral Galra soldier. That's- I'm- I'm just- how can I be a part of Voltron if- I'm what it wants to destroy?"  
Keith is shaken and tense, barely holding himself together.  
"Hell, even my own damn Lion knows I don't belong!"

"I'd have to be really, really blind not to see what's going on right now, but you are not one of them. You're the Red Paladin of Voltron and you're not getting out of it this easily, Kogane. Red is just as touchy as you are and she can't handle the both of you being emotional wrecks at the same time, I guess," Lance suggested.

"Lance, I, no. I can't- be like this! "What'll Shiro think?!"  
His ears kept twitching.

"Stop thinking about everyone else, Keith! I'm the most judgmental of our bunch and you're still the same Keith Kogane that I've been chasing after for ye-!.... Uh. Y-you're still Keith to all of us, no matter what you look like," Lance finished off sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Keith blinked his wide, pupil-less eyes, suddenly a little more aware of Lance's position on top of him.  
"...p-pardon?"

Lance's heart was racing.

"I said," he swallowed hard. "I said that you're still Keith to all of us no matter what you look like, can't you hear?" he muttered. Lance suddenly jerked back, having realized their position. "S-Sorry."

"No- wait, Lance, my ears are nearly as big as my face, I had no trouble hearing. What were you saying?"  
_Chasing? After me? Somehow I get the feeling it's not about our rivalry…_

"Damn it," Lance grumbled, his face heating up. His tears had dried but his cheeks were still wet. "I- I said that you were the same Keith Kogane that I've been chasing after for years, okay?" Lance's voice was low and his eyes were fixated on anything else, he was too embarrassed to look at Keith right now.

Keith honestly looked completely baffled. His ridiculous ears didn't help him look very serious, either. "...I don't want to assume- what- what do you mean? Years?"

"I-... Even back at the Garrison. You were always better than me, you never flunked the simulator, you blew through every class with ease-- I thought a rivalry would keep me going, press me to get better. But you were perfect . Nothing can beat that. I was angry, angry that I couldn't be even on your level, even angrier when you got kicked out. But--... That wasn't- That's not the whole story."

"So tell me it. The whole story," Keith says, softly. It's so much more vulnerability than Lance has ever seen from the Red Paladin. Keith's eyes are trying to search Lance's but they still obviously avoid looking at his own violet complexion.

"Y-... You're not gonna laugh? Not gonna shut me down completely if I tell you?"

"Lance, I'm just glad you're not trying to kill me. I won't laugh. You have my word," he nods and places a hand over his heart fleetingly.

This was weird, both of them so open, so raw.  
"I was still figuring myself out and- you know, yeah, I, um, so I pushed some- important emotions- off as wanting to be better to compete with you, to be better than you- God, I can't do this," Lance shook his head, running his hand through his now sweaty hair.

"Well...if it makes you feel any better...you're better than me for now."  
It felt so wrong, so foreign to admit.  
"...at least you're confronting your problems instead of running like a coward."  
It was a sort of back-handed compliment, but it suited Keith.

"No I'm not!-Urgh, that came out wrong, I'm not fishing for compliments for once-" Lance shook his head again. "And I am still running, Keith, I'm still running after you and... it's not even about being better or worse, I- alright, I'm beating around the bush here." He took a deep breath. "Keith, I'm not straight, I'm definitely not straight and that's what I was trying to figure out back then and- I liked you then and I like you now, okay? That's it, that's my huge secret-... aaaand now I'm rambling," Lance sighed a sigh of defeat.

Keith blinks wide golden eyes. "Y-you? Like...me?" He seems like he's in disbelief, like he just won 50,000 dollars on Jeopardy when he didn't even know he was playing.  
"But I'm- well. I'm purple...you insult my mullet all the time! You, with your cool attitude and stupidly positive outlook and irritating voice and nice smile and- er- "  
Keith he clears his throat hastily, looking away, lest Lance see the deepening purple on his face.

"W-well, sorry it's so hard to believe that I like you and your stupid mullet," Lance muttered, his voice a little pouty. "Wait. You-... no, no I must have heard you wrong." There was no way that Keith thought that he was cool or positive or had a nice smile though the irritating part did seem more like him.

Keith took a big pause, too big.  
"...whenever I hear you clamoring around the castle...it's comforting. I mean, sure, you've certainly got a voice that carries, b-but, yknow."

Another too-long pause.

"When I finally got out here...I mean, I missed everyone. I thought- I thought I'd never see them again but- and don't tell them this- I automatically missed you the most."  
Keith kept avoiding looking Lance in the eye.  
"All your stupid jokes and jabs at me, our stupid little rivalry over nothing...yeah, I'd miss that, for sure, but-"  
"God, Lance. You're just...rejuvenating. You make me feel giddy and happy and admittedly pissed off sometimes, but. I'm still glad. Yknow. That you're- here."

An innocent stick gets kicked to the side with a swift hit from Keith's boot.

Now I'm the one who's rambling, huh?"  
His ears are flattened, and if he had a tail it'd be between his legs.

Lance was a little surprised at first, he wouldn't have wagered in a million years that Keith would be saying this. He'd been so unattainable for the longest time and when he finally came back into reach when they collectively saved Shiro from the garrison scientists and Keith barely even remembered him , Lance had been shattered. He'd picked himself back up with their antagonistic banter and had tried to move on. But alas. The stars had actually aligned. 

"Yeah, Keith, honestly, do you ever shut up?" He joked, noting the heavy mood between them and attempting to lift it a little. Although nervous in doing so, Lance reached for Keith's hand. It was, in fact, purple and clawed, which was different but not at all unpleasant. It was still Keith's hand and he was thankful that he was lucky enough to be holding it. "I-" He stuttered, a little flustered from his sudden decision to hold Keith's hand. "I promise I won't tell anyone that I'm your problematic fave," He laughed shakily. "Hunk would be devastated if he knew,"

Ok. Let's get one thing straight. Or, not straight, rather. Keith remembered Lance immediately when they first met. But, he'd always felt really conflicted about the guy, so he just let new beginnings be new beginnings.  
But now? Things were different. Lance liked him. Like, actually liked him! They were holding hands??? Right that very moment??? 

Keith was afraid to hold too tight, for fear his new claws would hurt Lance. But the comfort handholding brought was undeniable and well-received.  
Ok. So. Lance wasn't straight. He liked Keith. Keith wasn't straight, he liked Lance. He sometimes wondered if he was crazy for liking such a brash guy, but Lance's determined smile won him over every time. Not that he would tell Lance that. Ever.

This was crazy. Lance didn't hate him, he liked him, and he was cool with all of this Galra mess (or so it seemed?)?? Keith could not be more relieved.

"Oh, so you don't want anyone to know about us? Er- never mind, that's not-"

_Stupid stupid stupid! Just because he likes me doesn't mean he'll ever want to be a thing. We're- just confessing, not- he wouldn't ever actually- would he?_

"Ah well-" Lance laughed sheepishly. "Everyone already kind of. Knows. Indirectly. I mean, they don't know that the feeling is mutual because that was a surprise to me, but let's just say that we have some really nosy and intrusive friends," Lance rolled his eyes.  
"But I mean-! If- you're not comfortable... We could, I guess, just. Act like normal?" He added, a bit dejectedly.  
Lance personally had already come to terms with the inevitable teasing that would come from the other paladins due to the persistent, adamant dislike between them that had often been portrayed by their rivalry.

"I don't...mind? I'm not really experienced enough to know exactly what I'm getting into, especially with a wild card like you. I'm more worried about keeping my current looks under lockdown than I am that."  
Keith really...didn't mind at least trying a relationship. (In fact, he was more than happy to pursue one.) But he wasn't exactly known for his prowess in handling them.

It hadn't been rocket science to figure out he was gay. No matter what town foster care put him in, there was always some boy, a neighbor, a classmate, that he fell for. He just...never really understood feminine appeal. So he figured out with the help of one rather insightful foster family that he was gay. (He also requested to be moved soon after.) So when Lance McClain came into his life at the garrison, Keith knew he was doomed from the moment they met.

How could anyone forget Lance?  
Lance, with his bright smile and stupidly pretty eyes.  
Lance, who randomly serenaded people on guitar.  
Lance, who wasn't afraid to tell it like it was.  
Lance, who was full of life and passion for living.

...maybe this relationship idea wasn't half bad.

"Well, I'm not really either, which I can admit a bit easier now, so if that makes you feel any better," Lance shrugged.  
He always passed himself off as such a Casanova, when in all reality, he prided himself in being an Olympic flirt but had a lousy track record.  
"But Keith, seriously, I can't speak for everyone, but I know for a fact that Hunk will be fine with you, I doubt Pidge will care at all and Shiro treats you like a brother. It's gonna be fine," He gave his hand as a small squeeze.

He felt this buzzing in his chest, which traveled down and settled in his stomach. Butterflies.  
Without thinking, he squeezed Lance's hand, horrified when he felt his claws press into flesh.

_This is it, he'll hate me, he'll have to hate me- who likes someone that has hurt them? Absolutely no one. Nice going, Kogane. You continue to be a danger to everyone you touch._

Lance winced and drew back slightly. "Ouch," He whispered sharply, examining his hand. Small dots of blood pricked his palms. Lance looked up to see Keith's horrified face and quickly wiped the bit of blood off on his pants.  
"We've got to get you some gardening gloves or something," Lance laughed lightly, giving his other hand for Keith to hold, so if this one did continue to bleed, 1. Keith wouldn't have to know and wouldn't have to feel bad about it and 2. That's a little gross.

Keith was incredibly hesitant.  
"I...don't want to hurt you."  
His golden eyes traced over his own hands; he was visibly struggling.  
"If I can't even hold your hand properly, why should I? You can't tell me that doesn't hurt."  
At least Keith was easier to read with those big-ass ears.

"Why? Well, do I need to repeat that I like you again? And did it hurt? Okay, yeah. A little. But we're both still getting used to this. I'll even be the one to wear gardening gloves if it means I can hold hands with you,"  
Lance's grin was crooked. He knew he was being entirely sappy, but after so long of repressing and rejecting these feelings, along with the fact that Keith seemed to be needing a healthy amount of sap right now, he didn't really stop himself.  
Then his stomach growled. He hadn't eaten breakfast and he had burned off whatever bit of energy he had leftover from dinner. "Oops," He laughed.  
He wanted to go back to the castle and get something to eat. He wanted to bring Keith with him for obvious reasons but also so Keith could get some decent food. But Lance wasn't blind or deaf; he could tell that Keith might not be ready to go back, so he had to be open to trips back and forth with Blue to bring Keith food, which he was completely willing to do until he was emotionally ready to return.

"Did you want to head back for lunch..?" Keith asked hesitantly. He used the moment of distraction to take Lance's other hand into his own, gingerly.  
"I don't want the rest of the team to see me like this if I can help it...so I could sit tight in Blue while you grabbed some food, if that's- if that's ok?"  
Keith was moody, sure. Even he admitted it (though never aloud). But even just a night's worth of separation from the rest of the team made his heart ache for them. They'd really become his family now. Sure, dozens of foster parents had tried and tried before, but this was real, this was tangible. But it was going to be tricky if he couldn't shake this purple blight.  
Maybe he'd just stay in his room for a while.

He'd gotten lost in his thoughts, absent-mindedly and softly rubbing his thumb over Lance's knuckles with his almost paw-like finger pads. If Lance had said anything, Keith was absolutely oblivious to it.

"Yeah, I kind of- saw that you were gone and ran out without breakfast," Lance explained sheepishly. He shifted to a squatting position, ready to get up and begin walking when needed, but still keeping hold on Keith's hand, as he had so pleasantly retaken it moments before without Lance's knowing at first.  
"But how exactly am I going to get around this without worrying them?" He pondered aloud. "I bet we're gonna get in trouble for missing out on group training, urgh. But do you have any ideas on a lie I could tell for you? I tried to cover for you yesterday and it only barely worked." Lance paused. He noticed that Keith had zoned out a bit. "Hey, earth to Keith," He waved his hand in front of Keith's absent golden eyes.

Keith blinked and refocused, right on Lance's eyes no less. His large ears pivoted forward and stood at attention for a brief moment before relaxing. Trying to cover his little slip up, he said, "We're not on Earth, dumbass....what were you saying, exactly?"

Lance stuck his tongue out teasingly at the earth comment. Of course he knew they weren't on earth. If they were on earth, he'd be able to go visit his family, see the blue waters of the ocean and feel the rain on his skin. But he pushed that sad nostalgia away for the moment.  
"More or less I was asking if you had any ideas on what I would need to tell everyone when you stay in Blue. Because even if I successfully sneak some food back and we feast like kings in the cockpit," he grinned, "I'll still have to face everyone and give an explanation later. I covered for you yesterday, saying that you'd over exerted yourself training after that close call on our last mission. But I doubt that's gonna work a second time."

Keith furrowed his brows, ears shifting as he considered the possible lies to tell.  
"You could say I thought I saw a signal or something from a ship? Went to investigate? I don't know, just make some bullshit up! Say it was a prank or something, I don't know. You seem to be pretty certain they won't hate me either way, so, let's just- give it a shot and take our chances. Make up something asinine and see if they bother to pry."

Lance hesitantly nodded, "I'll think of something I'm sure," He rose to his feet and helped Keith up, still not letting go of his hand. "Now is the issue of finding Blue again. I mean, I know we have this mental sync or whatever, so I guess we'll see if that pulls through."  
They wandered for a short time, Lance swinging their linked hands as they walked along. Blue had definitely moved closer to them since she could track her Paladin better than one of another lion. She was awaiting in the nearest clearing that she could fit in, given her size and the density of the forest.  
Soon enough, they were both inside, settled, and ready to head back. "Urgh, Blue is already pestering me," He mumbled under his breath, his face and ears a little flushed. She had caught up on Lance's mental history between the time they had parted and now. Juicy stuff it was, and she wasn't letting it go.

He leaned against Lance's seat from behind, trying to keep his claws from piercing the leather. Was it even leather? Whatever, didn't matter. 

"What about?"

Even just being in a Lion again, knowingly safe and secure with Lance, someone who _liked_ him, who _held hands_ with him, and would most likely still be doing that if he didn't have to steer, was relieving. He calmed down considerably, tension in his shoulders easing.

"Um," Lance pursed his lips together in slight embarrassment. His thoughts were going haywire with Blue's interference. "Well, you know how our lions can sort of read our minds?... Yeah, she, uh. Just got an involuntary mental play by play of what just happened, I think. And it doesn't help that she's known about how I feel about you for a long time now and won't let me forget about it,"

"...that's kind of cute."  
He doesn't notice at first, too enraptured with Lance's face to realize his own is changing. Claws receding, violet fading in a lovely sunset of lilac and blush back into porcelain and cream. Edges smoothed, eyes unclouded. And he didn't look like Dumbo the Elephant anymore, which was a good change of pace.  
He glances back down to where his hand met the maybe-leather of Lance's pilot seat and mentally tenses. 

He can feel that buzz, that itch, right in the back of his mind. But he could also feel his definite hold over it.  
Keith could control this.

Keith nearly cried tears of relief, but decided against them as the buzzing grew stronger with the emotional surge. _Pull yourself together, Kogane._

"Yeah, it's kind of annoying at times though," Lance sighed. He suddenly shivered. "Yikes, she just threatened to freeze me out but said I was saved by the fact that you're in here too," He frowned, focusing on getting them back to the castle without upsetting his lion any more. She was not as touchy as Red, but she didn't play either.  
He heard Keith's breathing change, felt his hand move from resting on his pilot's chair. "Are you alri-..." Lance looked back briefly at Keith, seeing a change from the deep shade of Galra violet back to a more fleshy tone. "Dude, how are you doing that? Do you think it was just a time out thing or are you actually doing something right now?" Blue went on autopilot as her irresponsible Paladin obviously didn't have his attention on where they were going anymore.

"I think- I'm stopping it? Or controlling it, that might be a better word. It's like this buzz in the back of my head. It wasn't buzzing like this when I was...y'know. Galra."  
"Maybe I won't have to tell them after all, huh?" Keith looked to Lance hopefully, trying not to let his emotions get the better of him. He grinned, trying to repress the small surge of thrumming in his head.  
This was his chance! Maybe things could go back to normal...well, except for Lance and him...dating...which was absolutely crazy but also absolutely wonderful. Maybe this whole Galra thing wasn't so bad, if he could control it.

"Well, you know what they say, honesty's the best policy unless you can keep it a secret," Lance grinned mischievously. It's not like he had any experience in that statement.  
Blue neared the entrance to the hangars. "So you're good to go back in with me?"

A flash of determination made Keith's eyes shine as he nodded decidedly.


	3. Give It a Week

Keith was so focused on keeping his purple skin in check that he barely even noticed Lance had taken his hand after they exited Blue.

Lance had reached for his hand immediately upon exiting his lion. It was like now that he could hold Keith's hand, he wasn't exactly keen on stopping.   
"Yeah, I'll hide you under my jacket or something if you start reacting," Lance nodded, very proud of his self-declared mastery of subtlety. He figured that since they were Official now (even if not to their comrades quite yet) it would be acceptable, seeming to be a sweet gesture of offering a coat to his cold boyfriend when it was really the two of them mutually hiding something from the rest of the team.

The first thing Pidge noticed about the clashing red and blue Paladins as they walked up the hall was their linked hands. Hands that were linked willingly instead of hands that were linked for the sole purpose of dragging the other member of the party along.  
Pidge looked up from their computer, adjusting their glasses and calling over to Hunk. "Hey, get over here. This looks like it's gonna be _good. "_  
Hunk heeded Pidge's call and came over, finishing off a rather hefty sandwich. Once he saw his bro, Lance, hand in hand with his crush, he whooped. "Heck yeah dude! Get it!"

"Is it too late to say 'I told you so'?" piped Pidge.

Hunk snorted, "I think you said that from the moment Keith cradled Lance in his arms."

As the two Paladins approached, Hunk smiled, admittedly relieved Keith's absence and Lance's worry was just over a little crush.  
Keith and Lance stopped in front of the table Pidge was currently reclining at, Keith looking especially puzzled.

"Already hand in hand, huh?" asked Hunk, eyes absolutely shining with support for Lance, and Keith too.

Pidge rolled their eyes. "It just figures that you two would be a showy couple."

_Wait? Hand in hand...?_  
It took a split second for Keith to realize that, _oh yeah, hands are definitely a thing and Lance is holding mine right now oh no fuck, shit, fuck that's so embarrassing-!_ Lilac burst from the bridge of Keith's nose and over his cheeks in a split second, nails sharpening noticeably when he pulled his hand back from Lance's.   
It would have been beautiful if it didn't have the power to make his team turn on him. 

He panicked, not sure how to hide this in such a short amount of time. Keith looked over to Lance with pure fear in his eyes, ready to turn tail and run back to Blue, eyes silently begging for help.

Lance was way too engrossed in Keith until they got quite near to his two closest buddies in the whole galaxy, Hunk and Pidge. He knew that whenever they got to them, if they were still holding hands, that he at the very least would catch a lot of slack from it, a lot of teasing and diary quotes, he was sure. 

He had opened his mouth to contest the jabs coming from the Green and Yellow paladins, but was intensely startled by the fact that Keith had drawn away so quickly at their comments. He looked over and saw-- _Oh shit-_

"H-Hey!! Keith! I think there's a hole in my jacket, can you take a look?!" He exclaimed in panic, laughing loudly in attempt to cover the anxiety in his voice as he stepped in front of Keith and spread one side of his coat wide, effectively hiding Keith, who seemed to have caught on and ducked accordingly.   
"Dude, are you alright?" he whispered sharply, surprisingly discreetly, for Lance at least. But it wasn't like any part of this situation was discreet at all. Lance followed up by looking back at Hunk and Pidge with a completely subtle grin. Nothing was wrong, why would you suggest that?

The violet splotch across Keith's face drew back in from its starting point on his nose as he peered over the jacket at Lance. 

_Woah. Ok. Lance up close. Up close and personal. Ok. Woah. Hello. His eyes look so blue...his lips look so- fuck!_

The violet splashed over his face for a moment before he shook it off again.

"I'm good. Now _you_ have to explain that to _them. "_

Pidge and Hunk peered over at the two jumpy Paladins, questions budding at their lips.

Lance exhaled in relief, before taking in a large breath and turning back to Hunk and Pidge, attempting to laugh it off. "How about that? Not a hole to be found! See?" He then showed off his jacket to them, unblemished, save for the slight signs of frequent wear by its owner. 

"Good for me, huh? Well, we're gonna head over to the kitchen and grab some food, since we haven't had any this morning, right Keith?" Lance said, slapping Keith on the back.   
He was all for talking to Hunk and Pidge, but not now . Until Keith could control his change, every conversation was unfortunately a risk. And Lance just now found out how bad he was at being subtle, even though it had seemed so fine in his head. The two of them were probably not the best suited pair to be keeping such a large secret.

Pidge let it go, God bless, but Hunk wanted to tag along. 

"I can whip you guys up some sandwiches or something, if you want."

_No, you absolutely can not whip us up any sandwiches._ is what Keith would have said if he was heartless.  
But instead, he said, "Sure." _Fuck._

Lance had opened his mouth to politely reject, planning a playful jab that Hunk was suggesting that they were incapable of making something as simple as a sandwich. His mouth hung open however, because was Keith really the one who okayed this? While they were in this situation? He managed to push it aside as they made their way to the kitchen, because hey, who could turn down one of Hunk's masterpieces? 

He had inquired about how pissed Allura was at both of them for missing both independent and team training, to which Hunk had replied very much, but she might be lenient due to the fact that everyone in the castle had been shipping he and Keith for a while now.   
"Because of you and your tiny munchkin demon that have been going through my personal stuff," He dared not to say diary because not only would Keith know that he endlessly thought of him due to Blue's method of finding out, but also that he had been ceaselessly writing about him, which seemed even more personal and embarrassing. 

"Oh yeah, your diary? That was really funny," Hunk snorted.  
Damn it, Hunk .

"Diary?" Keith asked, so innocent, so young. "You've been writing about me? And what's all this about shipping?"

"Whoops," shrugged Hunk, grinning to himself as he made the sandwiches.

"You know, if we had an enemy invasion right now, I wouldn't feel any more attacked than I already do," Lance slumped over on the counter across from where Hunk was working ever so diligently. He groaned loudly into his arm for a solid minute at least. Who knew he could give a continuous stream of air for that long?

"First my best friend betrays me, and has been betraying me for a while, then my lion betrays me, pesters me about everything and then threatens to inflict bodily harm on me for complaining while letting Keith live, unlike myself, then my supposed best friend betrays me again ," He grumbled exasperatedly. 

"But, in short. Yes. I've been writing like a little school girl in my diary about you because I thought I could trust SOME PEOPLE to respect OTHER PEOPLE'S' privacy. Apparently everyone else has known about this for a while and have wanted us to just go ahead and get together for a while now," Lance explained, his exhaustion hitting him now that he had slowed down a bit, sitting up, due to the fact that leaning against the counter made it tempting to fall asleep right there, and that would probably have gotten him in more trouble, making Allura suspect that he had caused such a fuss this morning just to have an excuse to go back to bed unnoticed and without repercussion. Which totally sounded like something that Lance would do.

_Ok. Don't feel anything about that. Don't you do it! Not even a peep! It's not cute! It's not endearing! It's just-! Journaling! Yeah! Journals are totally cool and no one gets emotional because of them, yep yep!_  
Keith is visibly struggling and it'd be funny as hell if it wasn't so dangerous.

"I'm gonna- take my sandwich to go, Hunk," Keith said as he hopped up, wrapping one of the sandwiches in a napkin and high tailing it out of there. But not without mouthing "sorry" at Lance.

"Wh- ok, buddy," Hunk replied as Keith made a swift exit. He turned back towards Lance. "Sorry dude. Now your crush thinks you're creepy. My bad. I'll make your favorite sandwich."

Keith zoomed back to his room and shut the door, leaving it unlocked. His thoughts were whirling around his head at an alarming rate.   
_Lance, wow, what a guy, what a face, oh but my face- what if they find out- they won't they won't Lance will protect me. Lance, wow, what a guy-_

Shades of lilac rose and fell over his body, making him all the more nervous.  
He bit into his sandwich despite its overwhelming textures and tastes. Did being Galra affect his taste buds too? If this whole thing made him unable to eat Hunk's masterful sandwiches again, he'd be pissed. But for now Keith just pulled through and forced himself to eat. He hadn't eaten in what felt like days.

"Yeah Hunk you're really the best wingman, I can't even believe it," Lance grumbled, eating his sandwich and eventually returning to regular conversation with Hunk, less pouty. His longtime friend always seemed to be able to make him feel at least a little better. Even though he knew the real reason of Keith's absence, he was still a little sore of Hunk's unknowing triggering of Keith's change, but what could be done? It's not like he could explain all this to prevent it from happening again.

Lance dragged himself away after a while, wanting to dodge Allura mostly. He was way too tired to deal with the scolding right now. However, despite his exhaustion, he did want to check in on how Keith was doing. "Hey," Lance said quietly, giving a light knock on Keith's door. "Are you alright now?"

 

The door slid open, but Keith was a sorry sight to see inside. He was half out of and half under his blankets, purple splotches randomly dotting his form. His ears hadn't changed, luckily, but one eye had. Half of Hunk's sandwich remained uneaten on his short bedside table. He kept shifting uncomfortably, looking grumpy and pained.  
"You tell me," he spit out sarcastically. Well, at least Keith was feeling good enough to be sarcastic. That had to count for something.  
Being Galra now was....off-putting, to say the least. Whenever he shifted, he felt....wrong. To repress his emotions, to turn human again....was beginning to feel very, very wrong. Because he wasn't human anymore, was he? How could he be if everything in his very being screamed out for him to be a part of that alien menace? Being human felt like a dishonesty, and that made Keith worry. Keith wanted to be told that everything would be ok. He wanted something, someone who could reassure him. He didn't think he'd ever needed that before...  
Of course, there was Shiro. He'd treated Keith like a brother from the moment they met, helping him out when school drama and teenage angst was kicking his ass. But he couldn't go to Shiro now. Not to talk this out, and definitely not for a hug, some comfort. God, what he'd do for some comfort right now.  
Keith looked up at Lance wearily, drawing the covers over himself more closely. He wasn't quite sure if he could ask Lance for something as simple as a hug. They'd never been this close before, despite how badly Keith had wanted them to be. But now that they were, Keith didn't know where the line was. What was too much? 

 

It was probably too much to even share this with Lance in the first place, the crush, the whole Galra mess. But he had already, and he couldn't go back. But he certainly wasn't going to ask for help. He was strong enough to face this alone. Or, at least he thought so until he felt tears carve a pathway down his face. He wiped his eyes and covered his face with a layer of blankets, shifting under them.  
"I'm fine," Keith said as he was very obviously not fine.

Keith looked and felt like a mess from what Lance could see. He felt bad for even the few moments on the walk here that he felt sorry for himself due to his lack of sleep. Keith was going through so much more, how did he allow himself to forget that??  
Lance quickly entered, shutting the door behind him, unnoticed and silent as could be, to avoid attention. What to say in a moment like this? He found himself walking over to Keith's bed and sitting on the edge of it. It reminded him of times back on earth, before the garrison, when his siblings would be upset and he would sit on the edge of their bed and scoop them up, sing them a little lullaby and talk it out if necessary. Sure, that might work on a child, but not only was Keith not a child, but there was a whole different connection between them and it definitely wasn't familial. 

"Hey," he finally said after a moment. Lance felt his lower lip quiver. It was taking a toll on him, seeing Keith cry was. He never wanted to see Keith cry, he wanted to see that rare smile of his, or even just a scowl, anything other than tears. He managed to find what seemed to be Keith's shoulder under the cover, trying to rub it in an effort of comfort.   
"I--I know this may seem like a losing battle either way to you--hiding or hatred--but I promise you that no matter what happens, it gonna-- It's going to be okay, Keith. No one hates you and," Lance took a large breath. This was definitely harder than comforting a little kid. "I'm going to stick by you in whatever decision you make, whatever you go through. I'll lie and I'll cover for you as long as I need to, I've got plenty of experience, even though I'm not that great at it," Lance let out a little laugh.

"But," he paused, pursing his lips for a moment. "For whatever counts, I-- I promise that I'll be here despite anything anyone says or does. Nothing can make me hate you more than I thought I did at the garrison, and I mean, it's not like that even applies anymore or was even valid in the first place, so." He smiled, even if Keith couldn't see him through his covers.

Keith did the only sensible thing in that moment and swept Lance into a hug. Even with all the covers, Keith's warmth definitely wasn't solely because of the blankets. A face red from tears and blush complimented the red motif in his room.   
Keith was glad he had a few layers of blanket to protect Lance from his growing claws as he became fully Galra for the second time that day. His shoulders shook as he cried into Lance, holding on to the blue paladin with a vice-like grip.

All Keith could think to do was mutter 'thank you' over and over like a mantra. He stayed in Lance's arms for what felt like hours, but was really only about twenty minutes. As he pulled his head back from Lance's shoulder to look up at him, his large ears swiveled to attention.

Was Lance crying? _Oh no._

He hadn't even thought of how this mess would weigh on Lance-! Hiding this problem was going to hurt him just as much as it would hurt Keith-! 

It was right then and there that Keith promised himself he would try to come to terms with this Galra curse. He couldn't change it, but hiding it would only make it that much worse.  
He couldn't though, not now, not yet. But he had to soon.

Holding Keith like this, having him in his arms, would have normally been something that would have had Lance over the moon, but in their current circumstances, Lance found tears dripping down his own cheeks. He knew it would be easier for both of them to just tell everyone, but he also knew more than anyone that the fear and anxieties of how people would react might be one of the worst things in the world. 

Then Keith saw him crying. He had tried to repress whatever shaking and sniffling he'd normally do, but apparently Keith had noticed. "Ah--uh, sorry," Lance muttered, pulling away slightly to swipe his sleeve across his face. "I'm a little bit more emotional when I'm tired, I guess," he lied, giving a small laugh. "I just hate seeing you go through all this stress, Keith. Hunk's usually the stressy one that I have to calm down," Again, trying to lighten the mood a little and distract from himself. Excuses, excuses, he couldn't let Keith know that already this was stressful for him too. Keith was going through much, much more with this and Lance felt he didn't even have the right to feel anxious, much less let Keith know about it.

"You don't have to pretend it's ok," Keith whispered, afraid saying that at full volume would sound more threatening than he intended.  
"It's not ok, I know you're not ok. I- I care about you a lot, y’know. That's probably pretty obvious, but," he paused to sniffle, "I don't know if I'll be able to tell them right away...but. Let's- let's give it a week."

 

Keith paused to look back up at Lance, sniffles subsiding. And w o w did Lance look really sad and _wow_ did he want to fix that right away.

"A week's long enough to know, right? If it'll be too hard?"  
Fuck. Keith should not be thinking like he is right now, definitely not think about how he just wants to kiss it better, make Lance smile and fall back into comfortable banter with him. He wants stupidly positive Lance back. The Lance who he knows would take on the world single-handedly if given the chance.  
But fuck, Lance looks really kissable and wow Keith is struggling.   
He held himself back as well as he can, because you shouldn't kiss people who don't want to be kissed. Duh.

"I'm okay, really." A wobbly smile and a voice crack was really convincing, surely. Damn it .   
"Forget about me, I'm hangin' in there with you for as long as you need or want me to," Lance reassured him. "You don't need to rush how you feel. Fearing how people might react, in my experience, is usually irrational and everything turns out alright, but. Given that experience, I do know how terrifying it is,"

Lance smiled at him, hoping that he was able to hide all the different anxieties and what-ifs that were plaguing his mind, but as Hunk had told him many times that he could read Lance like an open book most of the time. Then, as if his emotions couldn't have been any more all over the place, Keith seemed to be staring at him and subconsciously leaning towards him a little bit. Lance hadn't been kissed many times and he didn't know if this was just wishful thinking on his part, but this was definitely corresponding body language. 

Holy shit . It totally wasn't that Lance didn't want to kiss Keith, because honestly how far from the truth could that be? But how terrible of him would it be to misread the situation and exploit Keith's vulnerable state?? What an asshole move that would be!  
"Haha! Wow!! Look at the time!" (There was no clock anywhere, and besides, space time was really weird.) Lance stood up quickly. He needed to get himself out of there if kissing and Keith's cute face and his kissable lips was going to engulf his mind. This was not the time, Lance ! 

"I-I bet Allura is probably-- I think I just heard her voice and I probably need to go-- go and tell her that-- tell her why we weren't at team training today," Good job, Lance. Smooth. He edged towards the door. "You should probably take the rest of the day and just chill out. Want me to bring you some dinner? Since we kind of just had our breakfast and lunch?" Lance managed to calm himself down a little while asking those questions, but his heart still threatened to beat out of his chest. "Is there anything else I can get you? I'm willing to be your personal servant just for today, but tomorrow it's back to normal," he managed to tease.

Oh.  
How stupid he was! How could he have ever thought Lance would kiss him, especially so soon, especially with his new fangs-! How idiotic.

Keith's heart sunk a little when Lance got up, but he nodded him on, not having the energy to argue. He hoped this week would go by quickly.

 

Allura had her hands on her hips from the moment Lance approached her.  
"While I am happy for you and Keith's union, that does not excuse your absences. What happened?"

"Oh yeah, we were gonna race our lions and that's what I was running around for this morning because apparently Keith went on ahead of me and I didn't know it," Lance explained still a little frazzled from what had just almost went down with Keith. "But we all know how well Keith and Kitty Rose can get along at sometimes, but at others, they totally butt heads." Lance nodded, his hands knowingly resting on his hips.

"So I figured that since we were already all riled up for a Race in Space, that I'd just take him out in Blue for a while and-- well," Lance pretended to be a little flustered. "Things escalated a little and you know-- we got a little carried away," Lance's vagueness could have definitely been taken in a suggestive way, but things had escalated and some things were said that weren't intended to be given away, which could be argued as 'getting carried away'.   
Besides. Maybe being a little suggestive as was expected of Lance would keep Allura from asking anymore questions.

It did just that. Allura frowned.   
"Well, do try to restrict that to non-training times. If you can help yourselves."  
She turned and headed back to vent to Coran about these slacking Paladins.

**Author's Note:**

> come scream about these boys with us  
> lindsword - spacesasuke.tumblr.com  
> chickadi - chickadi.tumblr.com


End file.
